Lauer Wealth LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lauer Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 174.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,581 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.5% of Lauer Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Lauer Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $428.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.86.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.